The forerunner of Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE), the Manitoba Wheat Pool was created in 1924 as a mechanism to allow for the co-operative marketing of wheat by Manitoba producers by the United Farmers of Manitoba. The Manitoba Wheat Pool was initially intended to be a provisional organization until the establishment of an interprovincial Pool, but when Alberta and Saskatchewan established their own permanent Pools the United Farmers decided to do the same. The Manitoba Pool was different from the SK and AB Pools in that the municipality was the primary unit of organization; members belonged to their municipal Pool associations first, rather than having direct membership with the central Manitoba Wheat Pool. Manitoba Pool Elevators was established in 1925 as a subsidiary of the Pool in response to local members complaints about the unfair business practices of privately owned elevators. The private elevators also slowed up the shipment of grain to the Central Selling Agency employed by the Wheat Pool, acting as a barrier between the local Pools and the Manitoba Wheat Pool. Once established MPE quickly began to build new elevators and aquire privately owned elevators.
MPE's approach to marketing grain promised to stabilize the market price of grain and ensure a fair market price to producers. Initially the Manitoba Wheat Pool was very successful. However, in 1930, the Manitoba Wheat Pool found itself burdened with an unsold surplus from the preceding year that had been bought from the farmers at a price that was significantly higher than any possible return during the Depression. As a result, in 1931 the Manitoba Wheat Pool's Central Selling Agency defaulted on its bank loans. Despite attempts to save the organization, it was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1932. The financial difficulties of the Wheat Pool had little to no effect on the Pool Elevators, and so this former subsidiary organization became the main Manitoba Pool organization. This change meant MPE had to reorganize, which they were able to do with funds from the provincial government. The company was successful enough in subsequent years that it was able to finish repaying the Manitoba government a full year early in 1949.
MPE did not limit itself to grain handling; they wished to enrich the lives of rural families through education and to provide economic stability through diversification.
MPE established a lending reference library for members and a traveling library for rural families in 1926. With the passing of the Public Libraries Act in 1948, the province took over responsibility for providing rural families with books. MPE decided that since their traveling library would no longer be needed when rural libraries were established, the best course of action was to donate their library to the Provincial government. They also established and supported programs that educated young people about agriculture and ag business.
Subsidiary companies that dealt with course grains, livestock, packing and fertilizer were established by MPE to streamline and stabilize business for its members.
1961 marked the high water mark for the number of local associations within Manitoba Pool Elevators with 225 local associations. After this date the associations began to amalgamate and consolidate. Improvements in rural roads and rail systems and increases in the size of farms and mechanization of farm labour meant that fewer elevators were needed to service all members and regions. These changes led to an organizational restructuring of Manitoba Pool Elevators in 1968. Membership became direct, and the main unit of organization became the central office. The central office administrated the Pool through districts, which were further subdivided into sub-districts. The locals which were formally the main organizational unit came under the immediate direction of the sub-district they were located in. Local association could opt out of this system if they wished, but by 1975 all but 29 associations had become part of the new structure.
In 1998 Manitoba Pool Elevators merged with the Alberta Wheat Pool to form Agricore Co-operative, Ltd. In 2001 this organization merged with the United Grain Growers to become Agricore United, and in 2007 AU was taken over by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool; the new company is currently known as Viterra.
Custodial History
The bulk of this fonds was accessioned in 1975, when the forerunner to the McKee Archives at Brandon University, the Rural Resource Center, was founded. The original mandate of the Rural Resource Center was to house the records of the Manitoba Pool Elevators. Previous to this, most of the fonds was stored at MPE's head office in Winnipeg. Many accruals to this collection have since taken place, with some of the larger ones being received in 1997, 2001, and 2002.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains records dealing with every aspect of the Manitoba Pool Elevators organization, from the events leading to its formation in the 1920's, to its amalgamation as part of Agricore beginning in the late 1990's.
Fonds includes records of the local co-operative elevator associations established in the period 1925 - 1968 under the Co-operative Associations Act including: organizational papers; minutes of executive boards; minutes of shareholders annual meetings; financial statements; correspondence; membership lists; and miscellaneous documents.
Also to be found are: documents related to the Royal Commission re the Manitoba Pool Elevators Limited ca. 1931; miscellaneous reports and submissions documents (1925 -1952); central office papers consisting of annual reports, circulars to local co-operative elevator associations and documents related to various other activities of the Manitoba Pool Elevators organization. Fonds also contains documents pertaining to the Manitoba Co-operative Poultry Marketing Association Limited and its successor, the Manitoba Dairy and Poultry Co-operative Limited, and related agencies.
Other items in the fonds (dating from the 1890's to 2001) include: books acquired for the Manitoba Pool Elevator Library, including a complete run of both the Scoop Shovel (MPE's first newspaper)and the Manitoba Cooperator; photographs; slides; audiotapes; and reel-to-reel videos.
Finally, the fonds contains a small number of miscellaneous items such as banners, and company issued briefcases.
This fonds is organized into four series, (A) Local Association records, (B) Central Office Records, (C) Subsidiary Companies and Co-operatives, (D) Commissions, Committees and Inquiries
Notes
Description by Mike White (2002), revised and enlarged by Jillian Sutherland (2009-2010).
History/Bio taken from F.W. Hamilton, "Service at Cost: A History of the Manitoba Pool Elevators 1925-1975" (Saskatoon: Modern Press) and from records within the fonds.
Preparation of this description made possible in part by a generous grant from the Brandon University Student's Union Work Study Program 2009.
Researchers are responsible for observing Canadian copyright restrictions.
Finding Aid
File level inventory available for some boxes. The Pool Elevator library and publications are available online through the Brandon University Library catalogue.
Beverley Clare Hicks (nee Williams) was born in New Zealand in 1938. At the age of sixteen she began working as a nurse’s aide at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Auckland. From here, she began training at the same hospital and attained her Registered Nurse Diploma, after which she obtained her maternity nursing diploma from the National Women’s Hospital in Auckland.
Hicks came to Canada in 1962, and began to work at the Toronto General Hospital in the cardiac care unit. After returning to New Zealand to complete her midwifery training at St. Helens Hospital, she returned to Canada in 1964. She then completed Canadian university entrance equivalency courses in Vancouver while working at the Vancouver General Hospital emergency department. Because her nursing transcript included no psychiatric nursing, she travelled to Brandon in 1967 to participate in a six-month post-diploma course in psychiatric nursing.
Hicks’ passion was teaching, and after her six-month course was completed, she spent her time at the School of Nursing at the Brandon Mental Health Centre (BMHC), after which she was offered the opportunity to attend McGill University to obtain a Bachelor of Nursing degree with a psychiatric nursing specialty. Upon her return to Brandon, Hicks developed an in-service education program at the Brandon Mental Health Centre and began training psychiatric nurses to upgrade their skills, particularly in group therapy. She was also the first in Manitoba to train new community health workers. This community education sector of her career lasted nearly 20 years; she was responsible for travelling around Westman to deliver programs in suicide prevention, stress management along with other mental health topics.
As an educator, Hicks taught Family Life Education at Brandon University, Gerontology courses at Assiniboine Community College (ACC), and Counselling for the University of Manitoba Extension Department.
In the later part of her career, Hicks was responsible for resource and housing development for the final phase of the closure of the BMHC. While doing this, Hicks obtained a Masters Degree in Health Education in 1986 from the University of Manitoba.
The final stage of her education career consisted of being hired by Brandon University to teach in Canada’s first baccalaureate psychiatric nursing education program. Being in the education setting allowed Hicks to pursue further education at the doctorate level. Once she completed the required courses, Hicks retired from Brandon University to write her dissertation, "From Barnyards, to Bedsides to Books and Beyond: The Evolution and Professionalization of Psychiatric Nursing in Manitoba 1955-1980."
In 2020, with Lesley Peterson, Hicks published "Politics, Personalities, and Persistence: One Hundred Years of Psychiatric Nursing Education in Manitoba."
Beverley Hicks continues to live in Brandon, MB.
Custodial History
These records were in the possession of Beverley Hicks until she donated them to the S.J. McKee Archives at Brandon University in December 2013.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of transcripts of interviews conducted by Hicks as part of the research for her PhD dissertation. The interviews were conducted with a variety of former psychiatric nurses, directors, educators and other ward staff regarding their experiences working at the Brandon Mental Health Centre and related groups and organizations. All of the interviews took place between March 2002 and October 2007, and all of the participants were over 65 years of age and had worked or trained between the 1940s and 1980s. The interviews conducted were not formal in nature, rather they were intended to be a casual conversation between Hicks and the interviewee. Each interview begins with a brief biography of the interviewee written by Hicks.
Each interviewee was interviewed once, except for Jack Holleman and Elinor Samuels. Hicks interviewed Hollman three times over the course of approximately a year. Samuels was interviewed twice.
Below is a brief account of specific topics and subjects discussed during each interview. This does not include the standard topics discussed in each interview (schooling, experiences, etc.):
Myrtle Barnett – Barnett was the wife of the first president of the Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Manitoba, Alf Barnett. During the interview, she discusses when the association began, and how Alf went to war from 1942 to 1945. It was during this time, Barnett claims, that her husband began to question why men could not be formally trained as psychiatric nurses. Barnett comments on how her husband treated the patients like human beings and discusses his relationship with the Association. She also talks about her husband’s time in World War II as well as their relationship.
Remi Beaudette – Beaudette was a long-time attendant/psychiatric nurse at the Brandon Mental Health Centre. His interview describes his participation in the association as well as what duties he conducted through his many years working at the centre. Beaudette goes into detail about the various wards he worked on and what his duties were on each specific ward.
Marlene Brichon – Brichon was one of the first psychiatric nurses to graduate under the first legislation of 1960. During her interview, she discusses the changes in medication and treatments during her time working as a psychiatric nurse, some of the incidents that occurred between nurses and patients, patients with schizophrenia (and what the nurses did to treat it), and her feelings towards the textbooks used in her schooling.
Jack Holleman – During Holleman’s interview, they discuss the association, his presidency, how he commissioned the Breen Report and how much he paid for it, as well as the report itself.
John Martyniw – During his interview he discussed his presidency of the Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Manitoba, the different locations he worked at (Selkirk Mental Hospital, Misericordia Hospital) as well as his teaching jobs (Selkirk as per the Province of Manitoba). Martyniw discussed his displeasure with how they treated him when he first came to Canada – as an attendant rather than a registered psychiatric nurse, as he was trained. They also discussed the textbooks used during his time as a teacher.
Annette Osted – During Osted’s interview, they discuss the Breen Report, a quote from Dr. Tavener, what patients should be called, Challenge and Change, The Task Force, and changes in legislation.
Shirley-Jo Paine – During Paine’s interview, they discuss her role in proposing the program for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses to Brandon University. They also discuss how supportive surrounding universities and colleges were of the new program at Brandon University.
Gerald Pronyk – Pronyk did not actively practice clinical psychiatric nursing, he focused his attention on the administrative and education side of nursing. The interview discusses his positions as the Director of Nursing Education in Selkirk, the Senior Nursing Administrative Officer, and a mental health program specialist in the mental health directorate in Winnipeg.
Janissa Read – During her interview, they discuss how she became interested in psychiatric nursing, how spirituality relates to psychiatric nursing, the distinction between a Registered Nurse and a Registered Psychiatric Nurse, and how others felt about the profession of a registered psychiatric nurse.
Elinor Samels – The interview begins with them discussing her achievements at the beginning of her career, after she finished school post-World War II. They follow up by discussing some of the patients she had to deal with, her participation in the Association, her coworkers and how they treated her, and how the new changes affected their day-to-day work.
Walter Tetzlaff – In addition to being a psychiatric nurse, Tetzlaff was also a vocational rehabilitation counselor. He discusses how much he got paid at the beginning of his career, how much his room and board cost during school, what school was like for him, the kinds of things he did after he got his degree, and the textbooks he needed for class. They also discussed what he did as a vocational counselor.
Tom Street – Street was the fifth president of the Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Manitoba and graduated from the Portage la Prairie School of Psychiatric Nursing in 1967. During his interview they talk about how he became interested into psychiatric nursing, where he did his schooling, how he was involved with the union and how he didn’t like it.
Notes
History/Bio information provided by Beverley Hicks. Description by Karmelle Tower (September 2018) and Christy Henry
This box contains minutes from meeting of MPE sub-district councils. The records include the following:
1a. Sub-district #101 Oct 22 1997 – June 15 1999
1b. Sub-district #101 August 5 1993 – August 12 1997
2. Sub-district #102 August 3 1993 – Dec 9 1997
3a. Sub-district #103 Jan 27 1997 – April 14 1999
3b. Sub-district #103 August 4 1993 – Nov 25 1996
4. Sub-district #104 August 4 1993 – April 20 1999
5a. Sub-district #105 Oct 30 1996 – June 29 1999
5b. Sub-district #105 Oct 28 1993 – July 2 1996
6a. Sub-district #201 Nov 4 1996 – July 30 1999
6b. Sub-district #201 Sept 29 1993 – Oct 2 1996
7a. Sub-district #202 Oct 21 1996 – July 8 1999
7b. Sub-district #202 Nov 3 1993 – August 1 1996
8a. Sub-district #203 July 25 1996 – June 28 1999
8b. Sub-district #203 May 31 1993 – April 3 1996
9a. Sub-district #204 Nov 20 1996 – June 24 1999
9b. Sub-district #204 Oct 14 1993 – Oct 31 1996
10a. Sub-district #205 April 1 1996 – July 30 1999
10b. Sub-district #205 August 4 1993 – Nov 27 1995
11a. Sub-district #301 July 5 1996 – August 9 1999
11b. Sub-district #301 July 26 1993 – March 11 1996
12a. Sub-district #302 Jan 9 1996 – June 28 1999
12b. Sub-district #302 Oct 12 1993 – Oct 25 1995
13a. Sub-district #303 Jan 3 1996 – June 29 1998
13b. Sub-district #303 Oct 13 1993 – Oct 24 1995
This box contains minutes from meeting of MPE sub-district councils. The records include the following:
14a. Sub-district #304 Oct 8 1996 – June 23 1993
14b. Sub-district #304 August 3 1993 – August 6 1996
15a. Sub-district #305 Oct 2 1996 – April 7 1999
15b. Sub-district #305 August 4 1993 – August 7 1996
16a. Sub-district #401 April 11 1996 – August 10 1999
16b. Sub-district #401 August 10 1993 – Feb 7 1996
17a. Sub-district #402 March 21 1997 – August 16 1999
17b. Sub-district #402 August 4 1993 – Jan 27 1997
18. Sub-district #403 August 3 1993 – August 17 1999
19. Sub-district #404 Nov 2 1993 – April 16 1999
20a. Sub-district #405 Feb 9 1996 – July 12 1999
20b. Sub-district #405 August 5 1993 – Dec 7 1995
21. Sub-district #501 Nov 4 1993 – April 8 1999
22a. Sub-district #502 Nov 16 1995 – Oct 27 1998
22b. Sub-district #502 August 3 1993 – Oct 3 1995
23a. Sub-district #503 April 8 1996 – June 28 1999
23b. Sub-district #503 Nov 24 1992 – Feb 12 1996
24a. Sub-district #504 March 13 1996 – August 18 1999
24b. Sub-district #504 August 11 1993 – Jan 4 1996
25a. Sub-district #505 July 31 1996 – June 29 1999
25b. Sub-district #505 Oct 27 1993 – April 11 1996
26a. Sub-district #601 Oct 28 1996 – July 7 1999
26b. Sub-district #601 August 10 1993 – July 18 1996
27a. Sub-district #602 Oct 24 1996 – Feb 15 1999
27b. Sub-district #602 August 31 1993 – April 3 1996
28. Sub-district #603 August 10 1993 – April 15 1999
This box contains minutes from meeting of MPE sub-district councils and district advisory committees. The records include the following:
29. Sub-district #604 Nov 23 1993 – March 8 1999
30a. Sub-district #605 Oct 26 1995 – April 14 1999
30b. Sub-district #605 Oct 28 1993 – June 22 1995
31. Sub-district #701 Feb 10 1994 – Oct 15 1998
32a. Sub-district #702 Feb 10 1996 – June 29 1999
32b. Sub-district #702 August 23 1993 – Oct 10 1995
33a. Sub-district #703 Nov 4 1996 – August 3 1999
33b. Sub-district #703 June 14 1993 – Oct 21 1996
34. Sub-district #703 June 7 1993 – April 28 1999
35. Sub-district #704 Oct 29 1993 – April 6 1999
36. Sub-district # 705 August 10 1993 – Oct 16 1998
37a. Sub-district #801 Jan 13 1997 – March 15 1999
37b. Sub-district #801 Nov 3 1993 – Nov 27 1996
38. Sub-district #802 Nov 23 1992 – March 16 1999
39a. Sub-district #803 June 12 1996 – July 20 1999
39b. Sub-district #803 Sept 15 1993 – Nov 12 1995
40. Sub-district #804 August 6 1993 – July 19 1999
41a. Sub-district #805 Nov 28 1995 – July 22 1999
41b. Sub-district #805 August 23 1993 – Oct 2 1995
42. District Advisory Committee 1105 1999-2001
43. District Advisory Committee 1106 2000-2001
44. District Advisory Committee 1107 April-Nov 2000
45. District Advisory Committee 1108 Jan-Nov 2000
46. District Advisory Committee 1201 2000-2001
47. District Advisory Committee 1202 1999-2001
48. District Advisory Committee 1203 1999-2001
49. District Advisory Committee 1204 1999-2001
50. District Advisory Committee 1205 1999-2000
51. District Advisory Committee 1206 1999-2001
52. District Advisory Committee 1207 1999-2001
53. District Advisory Committee 1208 1999-2000
54. District Advisory Committee 1101 2000-2001
Winnipeg, Man. : Warren Co-operative Elevator Association
Physical Description
1 folder ; 38 cm
Notes
By- law no. 5-- Schedule "A"-- Auditors' report-- Warren Co-operative Elevator Association operating account : for the year ended July 31st, 1950-- Board of directors' resolution-- Meeting of the provisional board of directors-- Warren : March 27th, 1948-- Warren Co-operative Elevator Association to the honourable the provincial secretary of the province of Manitoba
